Several celebrities watched Gully Boy at a special screening on Monday and praised the film and Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt’s performances.

bollywoodUpdated: Feb 12, 2019 15:53 IST

HT Correspondent

Hindustan Times, New Delhi

Actors Alia Bhatt and Ranveer Singh pose during a photocall to promote the movie Gully Boy at the 69th Berlinale International Film Festival in Berlin.(REUTERS)

Praises for Zoya Akhtar’s Gully Boy just keep pouring in. After raking in a tonne of compliments at the Berlin Film Festival, actors Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt’s film is now earning kudos from celebrities back home in India and even overseas. The film was screened to a host of celebrities on Monday and they tweeted their reactions on watching the movie.

Fast & Furious and Widows star Michelle Rodriguez called the film ‘beautiful’ and recalled the cultural shift that was brought in the Caribbean countries by hip-hop years ago. “I remember when rap broke out of New York & made it to the Caribbean, my Brooklynn born bros would breakdance on cardboard boxes in Dominican Republic, America had no clue how impactful this platform was going to be for the underdog worldwide. Beautiful,” she wrote in a tweet.

I remember when rap broke out of New York & made it to the Caribbean, my Brooklynn born bros would breakdance on cardboard boxes in Dominican Republic, America had no clue how impactful this platform was going to be for the underdog worldwide. Beautiful🎼 https://t.co/TRjC9ag9X4

Actor Rahul Bose called the film a two-time watch. “Watched #GullyBoy yesterday. It takes you into a world you know nothing about & makes you care for its people, their lives, their futures. What more can an audience ask for? Superbly directed, spot on performances, great emotional highs and lows. And banging rap - music & lyrics,” he wrote in a series of tweets.

Music composer Shankar Mahadevan said he was blown away by the film. “GULLY BOY !!! GULLY BOY !!! GULLY BOY !! What a masterpiece !! @ZoyaAkhtarOff it can be ONLY YOU ONLY YOU ONLY YOU !! @RanveerOfficial it can be ONLY YOU ONLY YOU ONLY YOU !!! Bllllllllownnnnnn away !!,” he wrote in a tweet.

Filmmaker Atul Kasbekar called it one of the top 10 best Hindi films. “#GullyBoy is a cinematic masterpiece. #ZoyaAkhtar is in my book the best director in the country right now. The film is a technical and emotional triumph. Have no words to describe the brilliance of @RanveerOfficial n @aliaa08. This is 1 of the 10 best Hindi films that I’ve seen,” he wrote in a tweet.

Actor Saiyami Kher was also impressed by the film. “The #GullyBoy fan club! #ZoyaAkhtar you’re a genius! How do you out do yourself each time? Every performance, every scene, the music, the camera work, the writing @RanveerOfficial so contained yet so explosive. This one is undoubtedly your best. @aliaa08 fabulous as ever!,” she wrote in her tweet.

Few more words on #GullyBoy. @RanveerOfficial finest work yet. Contained yet free, nuanced yet explosive. @aliaa08 A brilliant, achingly true performance, your heart breaks. The rest of the cast were perfectly pitched. Take a bow @jayoza : brilliant camerawork in a complex film.

Singer and music composer Siddharth Mahadevan said the film was pure heart. “Just moved ,shaken and blown away by what we watched yesterday!!!! @zoieakhtar you keep proving to the country that you’re just THE best! @aliaabhatt @ranveersingh @siddhantchaturvedi and the entire cast is just mindddddd blowing!!! The music fits in so perfectly! #GULLYBOY is just pure heart!! Please go and watch it!!!!! It doesn’t get any better than this!!,” he wrote in an Instagram post.

Cameron Bailey, artistic director, Toronto International Film Festival shared on Twitter that he had never seen such a response for any movie at Berlinale in past two decades. “Watched the GULLY BOY world premiere tonight in a packed house with @RanveerOfficial, @aliaa08 & @ZoyaAkhtarOff present. Biggest cheers I’ve heard in 20+ years at the Berlinale,” he wrote alongside a picture of Ranveer meeting the audience post the premiere. Ranveer performed an energetic rap on film’s track “Apna Time Aayega” at the screening and had a “memorable” night.

The film has become one of the most anticipated projects in 2019, something that Zoya did not anticipate. “I knew that it will get certain attention because there is Ranveer and Alia in the film and my film is coming after three years. But I did not expect the buzz to be this much. We just hope we live up to it now,” she told PTI.

Gully Boy, produced by Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar, also stars Kalki Koechlin, Siddhant Chaturvedi and Vijay Raaz. It will release on February 14.